Photo Exhibit At Booth Library

By Jan Howard

The photographic works of a talented Immaculate High School senior are being featured at the Cyrenius H. Booth Library until the end of February.

The exhibit, entitled “All Things Great and Small,” includes about 35 landscapes, still lifes, and portraits by Cate Brennan, including the reflection of a branch in water, an outdoor water spigot with ivy around it, footsteps in the sand, and dew drops captured on an iris.  They are available for viewing in the library’s meeting room.

A resident of Danbury, Cate is the daughter of Edward and Jane Brennan. She has one sister, Marget, 21, a junior at the University of Virginia, and a brother, James, 13, a student at St Gregory’s School in Danbury.

“I’ve always been interested in art since I was little, but I knew photography was where I wanted to go,” Cate said.

“My sister took a photography course, and I got interested,” she said. Her high school English teacher, who is a photographer, encouraged her in the medium, she added, and, “since then I’ve been living and breathing photography. I’m constantly talking photography with her.”

Cate’s interest in photography began about two and a half years ago, she said. “My high school doesn’t offer a photography class, but I have been investigating other courses.”

Cate admires the works of photographers Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and Barbara Morgan.

“My favorite photographer is Edward Weston. He had a black and white photograph of a cabbage leaf that looked like silk. It was absolutely beautiful,” she said.

Her mother, an artist, has also been a positive influence on her. “She has a ton of art books around the house.” Mrs Brennan, whose media include painting, drawing, printmaking, and jewelry making, teaches at Melrose School is Brewster, N.Y., and Western Connecticut State University.

Cate said her mother has taken her and her brother and sister to art museums as long as she can remember. “She wanted us to be well rounded, and exposed us to all sorts of mediums. She really influenced me.”

Cate uses the elements of composition, tonal value, and pattern to structure her photographs.

 “I love working with black and white,” Cate said. “I try to capture the way shadows are cast, how lighting can change something around. If I had to choose between black and white and color, I’d choose black and white. With black and white, I like using lines and shadows. With color, I look for vibrant colors or textures and patterns.”

She works at her craft on a daily basis, using a Nikon 35mm, single lens reflex camera. “I’m experimenting with new filters and how they change the way things look,” Cate said.

“I set out to take a picture of what strikes me. I want to bring out its underlying beauty, to show it in a different way,” she said. “I’m looking at things with a different perspective. I want people to look at things differently.”

She prefers photographing still lifes or people doing normal activities, not posed. “I have a three-year-old goddaughter, and every movement she makes I want to photograph.”

The family has another home on Long Island, and visits to the beach there have influenced her photography, Cate said. “Beach shots are a big part of me. I’ve been going out there all my life. There is a story behind every picture.”

Photography is not Cate’s only interest. She is involved in various activities at Immaculate High School. She is a member of the Key Club, which conducts food drives, collects presents for the needy during the holidays, and prepares Thanksgiving baskets. She is also a student ambassador. She was a varsity basketball player in her freshman and sophomore years, and is a student athletic trainer.

The library exhibit is not a first for Cate. She has had her photographs on display at Ridgefield Bank and the Parrish Art Museum in South Hampton, L.I., where she has also taken classes. Some of her photographs of beach scenes have been sold in the gift shop there, and her floral photographs will be featured in a spring show.

She has studied locally with artist Jane Louise Nobes. Cate is interested in pursuing a degree in photography and visual arts in college.

For additional information about the photographs exhibited, Cate Brennan can be contacted at catebrennan@hotmail.com.